


Hellhounds for Hire

by SilverFlameAlchemist



Series: Jukebox Drabbles [12]
Category: Samurai Champloo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Falling In Love, Falling in Love At A Store, Fluff, Grocery Shopping, Hurt/Comfort, I love this show, Multi, Other, POV Second Person, Protectiveness, Reader-Insert, Romance, Song-inspired, Songfic, Surprise! You're In Love!, bodyguards, reader/various - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 12:09:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10360146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverFlameAlchemist/pseuds/SilverFlameAlchemist
Summary: One thing always, no matter what, led to another.Reader/Various - Separate Summaries Inside





	1. Not Like the Other Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was your shadow, your escort, and wherever you went, he was a mere four steps behind you. As time went on, and the threat slowly began to be more relevant, he kept you close and kept you within his reach. He stopped sleeping outside your door, and instead occupied a corner of your room. You tried not to watch him as you slipped into slumber, and he tried not to stare at you as you slept. You were a different sort of girl than the ones he was used to, and he found your quiet elegance intriguing to the point where he wanted to know you better.
> 
> Jin/Reader

_No more blame I am destined to keep you sane_  
_Gotta rescue the flame_  
_Gotta rescue the flame in your heart…_

When it started, you were nothing but another job.

Just a little girl with a father who was rich and paranoid and wanted you to be safe from enemies that probably didn't even exist in the first place.

But he'd agreed.

He'd been bored and alone and otherwise unengaged, and had figured _why not_. It was a lot of money to watch you haunt the halls of the large house, or sneak out into the garden to tend to the flowers you kept there, and he'd decided that it might be nice to take an easy job for a change.

When it started, he'd kept silent and tried to ignore the curious looks you sent his way in order to keep from having to answer too many questions. He hadn't ever heard you speak, and he honestly wasn't sure if you could, or if you were just used to being ignored that you'd decided not to.

Whatever the case, he wasn't going to push too hard, lest he break whatever trust you might place in him.

He was your shadow, your escort, and wherever you went, he was a mere four steps behind you.

As time went on, and the threat slowly began to be more relevant, he kept you close and kept you within his reach. He stopped sleeping outside your door, and instead occupied a corner of your room.

You tried not to watch him as you slipped into slumber, and he tried not to stare at you as you slept.

You were a different sort of girl than the ones he was used to, and he found your quiet elegance intriguing to the point where he wanted to know you better.

And he decided then and there that he would take the initiative for the first time, and attempt to crack you out of your shell.

 _No more blood, I will be there for you my love_  
_I will stand by your side_  
_The world has forsaken my girl…_

It was slow at first.

Only a few whispered words back and forth when you knew you were alone and your father wouldn't barge in and demand to know what sort of stories this rōnin was telling you.

But it was worth it.

It was worth it for the shy smiles you finally started to send his way, the soft questions you'd put to him in the middle of the night when you couldn't sleep, the way you'd grab his hand and tug him along faster, because your shadow just couldn't seem to keep up.

His favorite times were when your father was out of town for business, and you were free to talk as you pleased. You could sit as equals at the table and sip tea, or go into the garden to watch the fireflies dance through the cool evening air.

You could stop hiding from the world around you and emerge from your shell enough to actually laugh, or freely look at him as he explained about one particularly complex process or another.

And when you asked him to teach him how to fight, he'd actually chuckled before he realized you were serious. And with a moment's consideration and a slight nod he'd agreed.

Because one of these days a shadow wouldn't be enough, and you would have to defend yourself.

The lessons were sporadic, usually in the dead of night when you could be alone in your room and try not to make noise. But they were entertaining, because you were a fast learner with naturally good form, and Jin actually _enjoyed_ teaching you how to defend yourself.

And the night you managed to flip him off of you and pin him to the ground with a grin, he felt his heart skip a few beats.

Not long after, the threats against your father grew more heated, and Jin found himself relieved to know that if anything happened and he couldn't get to you immediately, you'd be able to look after yourself until he did.

And the day your father died, he stopped walking two steps behind you, and walked by your side as you haunted the now-empty halls of the massive house.

 _I should have seen it would be this way_  
_I should have known from the start what she's up to_  
_When you have loved and you've lost someone_  
_You know what it feels like to lose…_

You kept him on as a shadow, even though he was so much more than just a bodyguard now. He was a confidante, a companion.

A friend, if he was being bold.

You'd stopped smiling when your uncle came to look after the estate, and you no longer looked after the flowers in your garden. You stopped giving him those soft smiles and your laughter had faded away completely.

You'd gone back into your shell, and Jin felt as though all the work he'd put into pulling you out had suddenly disappeared.

He still slept in your room, tucked up in a corner, but you stopped asking him to tell you stories from his past, neglected the practice sessions you'd once demanded he keep up with on the nights you knew you could get away with them.

And the cold sensation he'd had for so long before he met you suddenly washed back over him, and he knew the feeling of loss long before it came, because he'd felt it before.

You were one more woman he couldn't keep safe, and he felt like he'd failed you somehow for what he'd done. He'd been so busy being your shadow, he hadn't thought to act as your father's as well, and now you were a shell of the girl you'd once been.

And he felt as though it was his fault.

All of what could have been had been dashed away from the both of you because he'd been too busy watching in wonder as you smiled at him and called him by name.

 _She's fading away_  
_Away from this world_  
_Drifting like a feather_  
_She's not like the other girls_  
_She lives in the clouds_  
_She talks to the birds_  
_Hopeless little one_  
_She's not like the other girls I know…_

From then on it was no longer attempts from Jin to remove you from your shell.

It was an all-out war.

He would fight to find you again, through all your sorrow and sighs and unshed tears. He would fight until the very end for you, because you were worth it to him, and he would never give up on the girl who had become his anchor to the world.

For a shadow can do little more than mimic its master.

He stopped caring what your uncle thought or said softly about how he acted, because he no longer felt like a hired hand. He had been with your family for quite some time, and no matter what happened, he wasn't about to leave now.

Your uncle could have thrown him from the premises and he still would have climbed back over the wall to talk try and rescue you.

You were now his damsel in distress, and no matter how tarnished his armor might be, he intended to be your knight.

And when he finally did rescue you, catching you one night as you stumbled towards your bed, you gave him a pleading look and whispered a request he'd never thought he'd hear slip past your lips.

And for a night, he left his vigilant post in the corner, and kept you company through the night.

 _No more shame, she has felt too much pain, in her life_  
_In her mind she's repeating the words_  
_All the love you put out will return to you…_

_"Not Like the Other Girls" by The Rasmus_


	2. You Go It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mugen's accusation stuck in his throat as he registered exactly who'd crashed into him and what the ultimate result had been. The display that had been off to his left and deposited nearly half its contents onto the aisle floor, and the girl who was now picking them up was way too cute to be real.
> 
> Mugen/Reader

_Walk by,_  
_So fly,_  
 _Yeah,_  
 _Listen!_

In all the months Mugen had been sharing an apartment, he'd never once had to be the one that got the groceries.

Jin didn't trust him to get all the right brands, or so he assumed, so he provided most of their rent, and his bespectacled roommate bought the groceries on the way home from work every weekend like clockwork.

But the idiot had gone and gotten sick, and now Mugen had been shoved out the door on his day off and told to get exactly what was on the list and nothing else.

Jin had even been desperate enough to hand over cash and tell him that it was exactly a dollar more than what he would need to buy everything, and if he didn't come back with change, Jin would never trust him again.

Not that Jin trusted him as far as he could throw him now, but Mugen got the idea.

The two had winded up moving in together during their first year of college and just never thought to change the arrangement. And even though Mugen hated to admit it, he enjoyed the company.

He'd lived on his own for long enough before then that he really had no intention of going back to it if Jin decided he could live with the current arrangement.

Besides his own concerns, Mugen had made a very drunk Jin confess one night that he sort of liked the company too, and that was enough to make him think twice about just walking out.

What he had thought twice about, though, was coming to the store in Jin's place, and when he'd wondered why they couldn't just have the stuff delivered, Jin had told him that they didn't do that, and Mugen had proclaimed it very, very lame.

So here he was, trying to make up his mind to have at least a little fun here and to mess with Jin's head when he got home.

Or at the very least kick his ass at Halo.

 _I bumped carts at the grocery store,_  
_Spilled that display things all over the floor,_  
 _But now I'm face to face with you,_  
 _Girl..._

Jin's list could probably have fed an army, except that Mugen recognized several different things that all combined to make Jin's-Super-Secret-Awesome-Stew, so he decided not to complain.

Besides, why deny himself the pleasure of eating Jin's food?

He'd admit to anyone who asked that, yes, Jin did most of the cooking, but whenever they had grilled anything, it was Mugen who took over, and Jin never touched the stuff.

The boys had a strange sort of understanding that they would pick up their own stuff and clean their own rooms, but when it came to things like cooking or maintenance, the larger load would fall to the one who was better at it.

Mugen was halfway through wondering why he always got shunted with the electrical duties when Jin's uncle _owned_ an electrical business, when a cart came around the corner unexpectedly and crashed into his.

The brunette doubled over the handle on his cart, trying to minimize the damage it might do to his stomach, and swore as he looked up.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

Mugen's accusation stuck in his throat as he registered exactly who'd crashed into him and what the ultimate result had been.

The display that had been off to his left and deposited nearly half its contents onto the aisle floor, and the girl who was now picking them up was way too cute to be real.

"I was just in such a hurry I didn't think to look before I came around the corner… Are you okay, by the way?"

Mugen quickly stooped to help her clean up the display's mess, giving you a half smile. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Are you?"

You laughed a little nervously, picking up the last of the display's contents. "Ah, yeah, I am… Again, I'm sorry I ran into you."

He shrugged, hands sliding into the pockets of his shorts. "Nah, it's fine." He looked you over again, dark eyes catching on certain aspects of your appearance as they traveled along.

You gave him a soft smile and then returned to your cart, pulling it back far enough to dodge around him.

He watched you go; hand curling around something in his pocket before he remembered it was a list from Jin. _Right_. That's what he'd come to do.

He pulled the list from his pocket, cleared his throat, and tried to remember where he'd been headed.

 _Could it be my eyes deceive,_  
_There stands an angel shoppin' on isle 3,_  
 _Heaven must be shampoo…_

It took the befuddled brunette roughly a minute and fifty-two seconds to remember where he'd been heading and pull his cart around in that direction.

Seeing you hadn't been in his plan for the day, and now he had to wonder if you came here regularly, or if this was a onetime thing. Had Jin met you? Did you two talk? Was he just being absurdly paranoid and maybe a little creepy?

He conceded that the last might be true, but it wasn't every day a guy was lucky enough to run into such a pretty girl by chance.

When Mugen turned the corner to get the particular type of shampoo Jin demanded he spend extra time and money to get (the man had rights, okay, his hair was long and it took time and care to get it like that; and Mugen respected the fact that he wanted it to stay that way), he wasn't expecting to see you there too.

And if he'd thought you were cute before when you were apologizing, you were positively angelic while you worried your bottom lip between your teeth and looked up at the shelf in front of you.

He tried not to stare at you, he really did, but it was hard to look away when he had a completely legitimate reason to be here and was actually looking between you and the shelves trying to find the right bottle.

And then he spotted it, and let out a small strangled noise.

The bottle, all innocent looking and brightly colored, was even with your stomach and was practically laughing at Mugen as he tried to work out what to do.

He could wait till you left, but that would seem weird, especially if you turned around and saw him. He could just reach past you and snatch it, but it was doubtful his hand would behave on the trip there and back and besides, that was just rude.

So there he stood, trying to work out what the hell he should do about this stupid predicament, when you picked up a bottle, turned to put it into your cart, and saw him.

"Oh, sorry, am I in your way?"

And like a glorious ray of light from heaven, there was his chance. "Not really, I can wait." He grinned.

You smiled back. "Go ahead, that's the only one I need."

He took two steps forward, snaking an arm out to snag the stupid bottle and raised and nodded at you as he put it in his cart. "Thanks."

"No problem!" You zipped out of the aisle and to the left and he had to pull himself back down to reality and consult his list.

He was going to murder Jin for this.

Or buy him a present… He hadn't decided yet.

 _You break necks when you walk by,_  
_You got wings cause you're so fly,_  
 _You don't even have to try,_  
 _Baby you got it,_  
 _You got it..._

Mugen would never have described himself as one of those guys who stalks a cute girl through a store just because she's cute and he can claim it's weird coincidence, but he would have sworn that something was making him follow you unconsciously.

Every time he thought he had it beaten, and there was _no way_ you'd be in the seafood section looking for tilapia fillets of all things, you'd be there.

Just out of the blue, you'd appear from behind a display or emerge from an aisle, and he'd have to turn his head away or actually turn fully away so that you wouldn't notice him, or think he was watching you, because that would be creepy, and he really wasn't doing it on purpose!

It was almost more like you were the one following him around, because he would be minding his own business when you showed up out of the blue.

Of course, there was no way that was possible, so he put the whole thing down to excruciatingly weird coincidence and tried not to look your way whenever he caught a glimpse of you out of the corner of his eye.

And _not_ looking was also excruciating, but in a completely different way.

Living with another guy had its disadvantages sometimes, and Mugen would have been lying if he said not seeing girls wasn't one of them.

Jin had rules about that sort of thing, and if you broke them, he'd throw you out. Simple as that.

And when the rules had first been put in place, it had been the school year and they both had to work their tails off to keep up with classes, so it made sense.

But it was summer now, and on more than one occasion Mugen had flipped Jin off first thing after getting home because he'd been _that_ close to bringing a girl back to their place, and then Jin's voice would sound in his head and he'd feel his spirits sink.

Sometimes rules were stupid and lame and deserved to be thrown right out their third-floor window.

 _You go bang like a firework,_  
_You got flavor like a desert,_  
 _I bet you look good in my t-shirts,_  
 _Baby you got it, you got it_  
 _You got it girl..._

And if there hadn't been rules tying Mugen's hands, he would have walked right over to you and asked you back to his place for dinner, because he knew Jin would be confined to bed and he could show off while letting his friend know he was missing out on both great company and good food.

God, was that tempting.

But Mugen didn't like the idea of Jin making good on his promise of throwing him out, even if you didn't seem like the sort of girl who'd spend the night (which was _perfect_ , because he hated chicks who were too easy), so he kept his mouth shut and his mind on other things.

Things that weren't the way you'd tap your fingers against your thigh in a rhythm as you looked over your list, the way you'd play with your hair as you tried to decide which version of something to pick, or the way he'd occasionally catch snatches of whatever perfume you were wearing as you walked by.

Yeah.

 _Totally_ not thinking about those things.

And he certainly wasn't watching the way your hips moved when you walked, or snapping to attention every time you got within twelve feet of him.

And there was no way on earth he was mixing up the things on his list and having to take longer than usual because he had to return them and get the right one.

He was ticking things off the list and doing this errand because he hadn't had a choice.

He _wasn't_ imagining you stumbling out of his room still half-asleep and wearing one of his over-sized t-shirts while you asked him what was for breakfast.

God, _so_ not thinking about that.

 _I got a crush that's so hardcore,_  
_You're breakin' my heart_  
 _Through the slidin' doors_  
 _Darling turn around,_  
 _Let me talk to you..._

Mugen still can't remember how he managed to make it through the rest of the list without either losing his mind or screwing the rules and just begging you to come home with him.

Either way, he managed to make it up to the checkout and looked up at the cashier in time to see you pulling into the line just one over from him.

He groaned, and the cashier looked confused for a moment before he assured the poor woman that it had nothing to do with her.

You had a few items less than him, and sailed off towards the doors before him, his eyes watching you the whole way.

He really needed to work on the staring thing.

He was just finishing up, paying with all but the one dollar Jin had told him he would have left, when he noticed the teller who'd helped you call out.

"Miss! Miss, you forgot one of your bags!"

Inspiration struck him like a slap to the face and he rushed out of the line with his cart and over to the teller. "Hey, does that bag belong to the girl who just left?"

"Oh, yes, do you know her?"

"Yeah," Mugen lied through a smile, "want me to give it to her?"

The relief was evident in the cashier's voice as he handed the bag over and Mugen headed off after you, thanking every god he could think of, every star he'd ever considered even the least bit lucky, and even Jin.

"Hey!"

You jumped at the summons, one hand rummaging in your purse for your keys as you turned to look at him. "Oh, ah, hey…?"

He smiled at the uncertainty in your voice and nearly laughed. "Sorry, you forgot one of your bags, the teller asked if I'd give it to you."

You blinked, peering into the bag he held out to you. "Oh! Wow, thanks, I hadn't realized."

"No problem," his smile got a little brighter as he took a deep breath and decided to just go ahead and try his luck, "hey, I know this is sort of out of the blue, but would you like to go out to dinner?"

You stared at him. "What?"

"Me, you, dinner. Tonight, maybe, or whenever is better for you if tonight is out." He kept his smile in place, even letting it turn into a bit of a cocky grin. It had been a while, but it hadn't been _that_ long.

"Oh, wow, umm…" He nearly melted when you actually blushed. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Perfect. Okay, I'm going to kiss you now, so don't freak out on me."

"Wait, wha…?"

The rest of your sentence was drowned against his lips as they landed on yours, his hands landing lightly on your shoulders.

"Sorry," he murmured, pulling away with a smirk, "just had to make sure you were real. You had me going there for a while."

You managed a soft laugh as one of his hands slipped into your pocket and left something there.

"That's my number. Call me when you want dinner, I'll come pick you up."

You nodded distractedly as he pressed another hurried kiss to the corner of your mouth and started out the sliding doors.

Okay, he decided, _definitely_ buying Jin a present for this.

 _That girl,_  
_She got it,_  
 _12 on a 10 scale,_  
 _Mmm she's flawless,_  
 _She got game,_  
 _Yep she got it,_  
 _Yeah I want it..._

_"You Got It" by Family Force Five_

**Author's Note:**

> Samurai Champloo and All Related Characters belong to: Shinichirō Watanabe


End file.
